Every October, a familiar smell returns to Radium — and Kathy Horvath had some thoughts about it for council.
At the October 25th regular meeting, councillors reviewed a written request from Horvath to clean up the sheep and deer feces on the streets and sidewalks of Radium Hot Springs while ushering the animals back into the mountains.
“It would be really nice to go for a walk on clean streets and sidewalks, smell fresh clean air rather than urine and feces,” explained Hovarth in her letter to council, adding the animals make her feel unsafe.
Ultimately, Village of Radium Hot Springs chief administrative officer Mark Read provided council with an estimate that it could cost up to $300 daily to hire a contractor for the month of October to focus on the clean-up efforts. Council accepted the information, but decided it would be best to sign off on a resolution for staff to respond to Ms. Hovarth’s request with further information.
“It’s pretty pricey,” concluded Read. “The other issue, in my mind at least, is that by the time you drive home, it seems to have dried up and it isn’t that visible.”
He added that Hovarth’s letter raises alarm bells about the sights and smells in Pine Cone Lane, which is a privately-owned strata.
Councillor Karen Larsen queried Read about who was responsible for maintaining problems on Pine Cone Lane.
“If they want that service, shouldn’t their strata collect funding to pay for that service?” she asked Read.
“Precisely,” he replied.
In addition, Coucillor Ron Verboom questioned if there was any extra time for village staffers to spend cleaning up the streets and Read explained it’s already being done in their spare time.
He added the task could be assigned to a part-time student or a contractor for October.
“It’s a pretty short period of time to work,” Verboom agreed.
Radium supports economic development service area
There were recently minor revisions made to Bylaw No. 2606 to help the Columbia Valley Economic Development Service Area with funding at the Village of Radium Hot Springs regular council meeting on Wednesday, October 28th.
“The original vision was one service area, potentially being able to have economic development, expenditures or programs as different communities need them,” chief administrative officer Mark Read told council. “But the province said they wouldn’t allow that, so basically what they’re doing is coming up with a number of different bylaws that were going to be more area-specific that will provide service to the entire area or that is more specific to one area — this is really a bit of a housekeeping bylaw that we’ve already approved.”
The motion to revise the bylaw was unanimously passed by council with Councillor Tyler McCauley making the motion and Councillor Todd Logan seconding it.